Jonathan N. Pruitt's Blog

Four Lessons Learned from my first Audiobook

I’ve spent the last ten days listening to The Amber Menhir on audiobook. The narrator, Cherami Leigh, produced her first draft just a few weeks ago. Thereafter, a sound engineer worked their magic and Cherami performed some pick-ups (retakes). After those, the files were sent my way. I listened to the entire book twice: first within a program called Pozotron, which highlights each word in the...

Source

The Way Forward is to Accept Your Part

There are two sides to every story. Go sit with each side of a lovers’ quarrel and see. Each participant will profess a plausible justification for their own behavior and for why the other is to blame. Look at The Patriots with #DeflateGate and the NFL Commissioner. What a mess. It can be no surprise to those steeped in my website that I was once subject #1 in one of the largest academic scandals...

Source

The Path Forward is to Accept Your Part

There are two sides to every story. Go sit with each side of a lovers’ quarrel and see. Each participant will profess a plausible reason for their behavior and for why they fault another. Look at The Patriots with #DeflateGate and the NFL Commissioner. What a mess. It can be no surprise to those steeped in my website that I was once subject #1 in one of the largest academic scandals in recent...

Source

The Villain’s Approach to Conflict

Sorry for the delay, folks. Below are my takes on conflict resolution archetypes rendered in light versus shadow. The point of this exercise was to try developing characters, especially villains, based on how they navigate interpersonal friction. Let’s take the plunge, hmm? The Accommodator: Accommodators are typified by a willingness to provide opponents what they desire to see a situation...

Source

Many roads Can lead to victory

There are a lot of ways one can outline characters. For instance, you might devise them in terms of their development and positions in society, or you could ground characters in terms of their virtues and vices, and so on. Most of the characters in The Amber Menhir were spawned out of necessity. When I needed someone with a particular societal slant and the power to witness or compel events...

Source

Literary #Nightmare Fuel

A dream featuring a grinning man and a prison made from ribbons was cut short by my 5:30am alarm this morning. Rather than scuttle out of bed to brush my teeth, I palmed my cellphone and began writing. It started off as just a few haphazard notes, but new ideas mixed with half-remembered details from my nightmare to produce a workable action sequence for a novel. Like any social media zombie...

Source

A Message: you’re going to have one

If you’ve written a book or you’re pondering the act, then be prepared to field questions about your message. Now, if you’re lucky enough to touting a how-to volume or hawking your expertise in XYZ, vetting such questions is easy peasy. Right? After all, you’ve got a utilitarian perspective and a personalized brand you’re pitching. That’s why one writes those books. So, just draft a distillation...

Source

A Message: you���re going to have one

If you’ve written a book or you’re pondering the act, then be prepared to field questions about your message. Now, if you’re lucky enough to touting a how-to volume or hawking your expertise in XYZ, vetting such questions is easy peasy. Right? After all, you’ve got a utilitarian perspective and a personalized brand you’re pitching. That’s why one writes those books. So, just draft a distillation...

Source

Thanking Your Stars

Here’s a riddle for you… What do Sailor Venus — with the powers of love, beauty, and light —and a femme fatale part-cyborg named “V” have in common? The answer? They and other iconic characters are voiced by the one and only Cherami Leigh. Cherami has breathed vitality into some of the biggest franchises in fantasy, science fiction, and gaming, including Street Fighter, Cyberpunk 2077, Pokémon...

Source

Barreling Back

Before I ever started writing novels, I was an art collector. I meandered around galleries from New York to Santa Fe, taking in the pictorial arts and, on occasion, procuring small pieces. Once or twice I even commissioned works as gifts. I especially enjoyed the last. Something about watching a piece unfurl gave me a small but rewarding sense of participation, even if I served as a mere spectator.

Source